Don't miss this one
bookloversfriend | United States | 06/04/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"A struggling writer gets a surprise visit from an ex-girlfriend he hasn't seen for six years. She's now a successful, busy lawyer who wants him to babysit her six-year-old daughter for two weeks. At first awkward and at a loss, he is gradually warmed by the precocious little girl, who wrangles an introduction to a woman he's had his eye on, and gets him to tell her a bedtime story which she secretly records and sends to a publisher. He comes to love the little girl and she him and both dread the day when the mother comes back. But the biggest surprise of all comes when he discovers that the little girl is his daughter. Then, the mother returns.
Fortunately, the moviemaker did not make the casting mistakes so often made in family movies recently. The little girl is delightful and very appealing. The girlfriend is not only pretty but appealing. All look much, much better that their pictures on the DVD cover (but then, isn't that true for almost all DVD covers?).
The character/casting of the man, the central character, is regrettable. He is whiney throughout, even after his success. This hurts the movie and may account for why this good movie is going off the market so soon. His courtroom appearance even strains credibility: everyone knows to be decorous in a court appearance.
The movie begins inappropriately with a scene from the mystery novel the man is trying to write. This is unnecessary, misleading and inappropriate. But it is mercifully brief (only a couple of minutes)."